


thank you. for everything

by KindaAnxious



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 14:45:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15051455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KindaAnxious/pseuds/KindaAnxious
Summary: Ellen wasn’t willing to give up on Emma, even if her son was.





	thank you. for everything

  
When 5 year old Emma tumbled into Ellen Nolan’s living room after her first day of school, her knee length socks pushed down to her ankles and her cardigan unbuttoned, Ellen listened to Emma gush about her new friends Mandy and Jenna, how horrible the school lunches is and how nice the teacher is. Ellen smiled at the joy on Emma’s face before wiping away the remaining traces of lunchtime yoghurt from her face.

When 8 year old Emma sulked into Ellen’s house throwing her bag onto the couch before disappearing into the spare bedroom, Ellen gave her a moment to calm down while she prepared her a snack, and knocks tentatively on the door. Emma takes the tray meekly, sniffing away her tears.

‘Mandy told me that Jenna talked about me to Ruthie. She said that I stole her pen from her, but I didn’t! She lost it after I gave her it back! I wouldn’t do that to her, gran.’ Her gran gives her a soothing hug.

‘I know Emmy, it’s ok.’ Ellen tells her granddaughter how she’ll have better friends, friends who will believe her when she says she didn’t steal their pen, and by the end of it Emma’s back to smiling and giggling. Ellen gives her one last hug before pulling her hair into a ponytail.  
‘Wow, it’s getting long again! Where do you want it cut to?’ Emma indicates that she wants it all shaved off. Ellen just laughs.

When her daughter-in-law Lydia calls her in a crying hysterically over the phone Ellen rushes over to their house, where she finds a triphument 11 year old Emma with a home-cut pixie hairstyle, the red pair of scissors proudly shown to be the weapon. She listens to Emma’s parents talk about how she looks like a boy (and other things) and how they’ll have to buy hair extensions, but after 5 minutes she shuts them up with a simple statement.

‘Look how happy Emma is.’ Emma happily showed off her new hairstyle the next day, and the smile was still on her face after school, even if it wasn’t on her parents.

When 14 year old Emma wore too much eyeliner and dyed her hair too many colors, but she still watched game shows with her and helped her gran with volunteering at the library, so Ellen supported her granddaughter and loved her with all her heart.

She tearfully came out to gran while they were driving home and the outfits and the eyeliner and the hair started to make sense to Ellen, it’s Emma’s way of being herself in a place where that can be dangerous and lonely. Ellen pulled over and she hugged her granddaughter as hard as she could, before asking her if that meant she was a vegan now. 

When 15 year old Emma isn’t ready to tell her parents yet but Ellen can see just how much she wants to truly be herself, she calls Lydia and tells her that she’s taking Emma to a weekend caravan holiday, but they take the train into Indianapolis and she takes Emma to experience her first pride.

By the end of the weekend Emma’s on cloud nine (and so is Ellen, seeing how happy her granddaughter is) and she shyly tells her the name of her crush, Alyssa, and reveals that Alyssa kissed her just before the summer holidays started.

When 16 year old Emma turns up on Ellen’s doorstep, her sobs of heartbreak and sorrow that no 16 year old should ever face. Ellen lets her in, and notices that Emma is carrying her prized possessions, along with a duffel bag full of clothes. It doesn’t take long for her to piece together what happened, and she tucks her granddaughter into bed, before going over to her son and daughter-in-law’s house to give them a piece of her mind.

When she arrived back in the early hours after a raw and bitter argument, her heart felt heavy and her mind felt empty. But she took one look at Emma’s sleeping face, the incoming text from her girlfriend lighting up her phone, and she made her mind up to never give up on her, even if her son did.

When 17 year old Emma brought home 4 middle aged broadway stars, Ellen was a little taken back. But there was a genuine smile in her granddaughter’s face, and a twinkle to her eye that she had missed dearly, so she made them coffee and watched the soaps with one of them and exchanged email addresses with another and allowed Emma to let her into her life, even if it was only a tiny portion of it.

When 18 year old Emma had loaded the last of her boxes into Alyssa’s car, all marked neatly for college, she turned back to look at her grandmother. Ellen gave her a sad, yet proud, smile and Emma crumpled into her arms. ‘I’m so honoured to see the women you’ve become.’ She whispers into her hair, and Emma sniffs on her shoulder.

‘Thank you for everything, gran. I don’t think I would of ever accepted myself if it wasn’t for you.’

Ellen waved goodbye to the truck until her arm stung, holding Emma’s cat in the other, before turning back into her house and getting ready to make dinner for the two of them.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> newsies who?? i only kno lesbians


End file.
